Fatality
by Gunner3284
Summary: I was so caught up in my own thoughts, I didn't see what was right in front of me. Now the world I once knew is gone, replaced by a barren wasteland. Everything I ever knew, gone. Everyone I've ever known, dead. The only thing that remains, the only thing that still matters, is saving the one person that I cared for more than anyone else.
1. Crash

**A/N: Yay, new story! Fatality is here! Read it! Read It! READ IT!**

Mohammed Hassan al-Din called himself a warrior of Islam. And today he was to meet his destiny. Years of planning and preparation that all lead up to this day. And now was his chance to do Allah's work.

"Allahu Akhbar." He said to himself when he saw the time, smiling as he yanked the steering wheel over.

"Stupid Beck." I said to myself as I pulled onto the highway. This happened all the time. He would get pissed off that we keep fighting, break up, then he would realize he was wrong, and we would get back together. A week at most. I was really getting sick of it. Maybe Beck and I weren't meant for each other. Maybe what we had wasn't true love. Maybe it was time I found someone else.

I was so caught up in my thoughts, I didn't see the semi until it was sliding towards me on its side. I jerked the wheel over, trying to get out of the way. I almost made it, but the roof of the truck slammed into the drivers side of my Fusion. The impact knocked me out cold.

* * *

I felt, rather than heard, myself groan as I came to. A horrible smell filled my nose, a mixture of burning fuel, death, and burnt rubber. And then the pain hit me. It came on slowly, filling my body and growing in intensity until it was much more than I could bear. The worst part of it was that I couldn't even react to the pain. I tried to move, but couldn't. My hearing returned next, and I could hear pained screams coming from all around me, along with fires burning. I tried to open my eyes, and was relieved to feel them open. At first, everything was a blurry shade of red. Then it slowly cleared up, just enough that I could make out my surroundings.

Wrecked cars. Bodies. Fires. I could see the destroyed remains of the crashed semi to my right. The mangled shreds of metal from the fuel tank it had been hauling were scattered all around. There were several small fires burning, and the smoke from the entire crash site filled the sky, blanketing the area in a hazy gray darkness. There were several bodies in my field of view, and one would have to be blind to not see how disfigured and charred the remains were. So much destruction.

After a few moments of staring, feeling nothing but utter shock, I saw a man walking through the wreckage. He had a pistol in his hand, and walked with a disciplined march, immediately making me think he was military. Then he looked over behind a nearby car. He turned towards it and walked over, raising the pistol. I couldn't see the shot, but when my ears started ringing, I knew what had happened. He walked back to where I could see him, then turned to me. He turned and walked towards me, once again raising the pistol. I closed my eyes and waited for death.

But after several seconds, I opened them and found the guy crouched down in front of me, inches from my face, staring right into my eyes. I stared right back into his, and I could see the darkness in them.

His eyes were soulless. There was an emptiness to them that I had never seen before.

After a moment he leaned back and smiled, then said something I couldn't understand. He stood up and walked away to the other side of the semi. Everything started to darken, and I blinked to clear it back up. When my eyes opened, the fires were smaller, and there was a woman moving through the wreckage. She didn't appear to be injured, and as I watched, she began looking around. She spotted me, and ran over. Just before she reached me, everything went black.

**A/N: Ok, now for bad news. I'm currently going through a shitty spot right now, so updates will probably be few and far between for right now. But not to worry, I'll be back on track soon enough.**

**Please review. It will make the shitty spot seem not so shitty.**

**Gunner out!**


	2. Reconnection

**Thank you to my awesome reviewers! This is the most reviews I've ever gotten for a first chapter! So now you guys get shoutouts! Thank you to:**

**Dragoness114 (Love your story, hope to see an update soon!), Azkadellio (Welcome back!), krys1993, DoubleBubble249, kikudog6, Nameless Secret Keeper, nightlock x3, TheLastOfThem (Awesome stories, YOU keep it up!)**

**A/N: I'm back! Sorry the update took so long, writer's block is a bitch. But thanks to my brand new portable radio, I recieved a burst of creativity that lead to this chapter! And it's longer! I was going to make it really long, but decided I needed some sort of cliffhanger. So here you go. Chapter 2 of Fatality, Reunion.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Seriously, I'm broke. But I do own this brand new portable radio, which will hopefully lead to faster updates.**

_**Jade's POV**_

When I woke up, it was dark. I could see a little bit of light coming through a window on the far side of the room, but it wasn't much. Not enough to see any other part of the room. I looked down at my body, and tried to move the blanket, but my arms were strapped down to the bed. Ok, so I'm not dead. And I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

Well this sucks. I can't move, I can't see, and I can't hardly think. Fuck.

I tried to lull myself back to sleep, but it was becoming harder and harder to keep my thoughts to a minimum. They finally drifted to the crash, and I couldn't help but realize something.

That semi just drove across the highway. It didn't swerve, there was no smoke from under the hood, and it didn't brake when it hit the barrier. So, either the driver was asleep, drunk, or he did it on purpose. And it was only one in the afternoon when it happened, so the first two are almost entirely out of the question. So why the hell would a truck driver crash on purpose while hauling a fuel tank?

And then I remembered the man who had been walking through the wreckage, shooting survivors. The one who looked me right in the eyes, and left me there to die. What was it he said to me? It wasn't English... maybe Arabic? Russian? Something like that. I don't even remember exactly what he said. But was he connected to the suicidal semi? Was this a terrorist attack? Had they gotten away? How many people survived?

I couldn't recall anything else, and remembering what I could had actually made me tired. Hell, it is dark, isn't it? Why don't I just go back to sleep...

* * *

I was shocked awake. Literally, it felt like a lightning bolt had just ripped through my body. My eyes flew open, overwhelming my vision in a bright white light. My vision started to clear, but my ears were ringing. My vision cleared enough for me to make out several faces standing above me. I looked around, and saw that my once dark room was now bathed in light. I could see them trying to talk to me, but all I could hear was the ringing in my ears. My hearing cleared just enough for me to hear them shouting, but not enough for me to understand them. I focused back in on the three faces above me. Two were covered by surgical masks, but the other one...

Tori?

* * *

**_Tori's POV_**

It's been a pretty good day for me. Andre and I had just sold a bunch of songs, it was my birthday, and I had the rest of the day to myself. Not to mention I haven't heard one bad song on the radio at all today. And none of them were songs by Andre or I. I hated to hear my songs on the radio. Made me feel a little unfulfilled knowing that someone else was getting almost all of the credit for a song I had worked my ass off on. Looking at the highway sign, I saw I only had a couple miles left until I'd be back home. I live just outside of L.A., far enough away that it was pretty peaceful, but close enough that it didn't take me very long to get into the city for work or business. I was coming over the last hill before my exit when I saw a semi sliding towards me from the bottom of the hill.

Cars and pickup trucks plowed into the tank it was hauling as well as the cab. I saw one black car sticking out of the cab of the truck, sliding with it. I slammed on my brakes, thankful that there was no one behind me. Finally the truck stopped at the bottom of the hill, but it was leaking fuel out of the trailer, and there were several cars that had hit the trailer that were on fire. I sat for a few seconds, mesmerized by the destruction below me, before I managed to get my mind going again. I drove down towards the wreck, not even thinking about how I would die if that fuel were to ignite. I stopped about 50 feet from the wreckage, and started to get out when a large explosion engulfed a truck right next to the trailer. I managed to duck down below the dashboard just before the trailer blew. Something slammed into my car, and the impact caused me to black out.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of screaming outside of my car. I slowly sat up, and gasped when I saw what was on my car. I couldn't see anything out of my windshield because there was a car lying on my hood. Apparently another car had been launched into mine when the trailer blew up. I realized my arm must be broken or something when I couldn't make it move. I reached over and opened the door with my right hand, and got out of the car.

I couldn't belive the amount of destruction in front of me. Burned out and burning cars and trucks, mangled and charred corpses, and burnt body parts were lying all over the area. The semi that had caused this whole thing lay on its side in front of me, mangled and destroyed beyond comprehension. The trailer had been shredded by the explosion, and debris from it lay all around the area. I stumbled over towards the wreck, stepping around bodies and destroyed cars. I heard an engine rev, and looked up in time to see a black SUV speeding away on the other side of the wreckage. I looked around, and I couldn't see anyone who looked like they had any hope of being alive. I walked towards the semi, falling against the destroyed trailer when I reached it. I looked around again, and this time I could see a woman laying on the ground on the edge of the wreck. Her body wasn't burnt anywhere, so maybe she's alive. I rushed over, and saw I might be wrong. She had three large chunks of metal sticking out of different places in her torso. She had cuts all on her face, and down her arms and legs. She had a lot of dark spots growing on her shirt, so she must've had a few cuts there, too. I tried to check her pulse, but I couldn't feel anything. I pressed harder, desperate to find a pulse.

I finally felt a slight pulse, and smiled. I moved her hair off of her face so I could get a better look-

Holy shit.

I was holding a severely injured Jade West in my arms, with the life slowly bleeding out of her body. I heard a slight whomping in the background, but I paid no attention to it. The only person who I had ever loved in life was dying in my arms.

**A/N: The next update will come... whenever the hell I get it done. Which will hopefully be soon. Remember to review. Because, you know, reviews are life, and without life... well, no more story.**

**Gunner out!**


	3. The New World

**A/N: I am so, so, so sorry its been so long. Writer's block is a bitch. Finally saw Act of Valor (FINALLY) and it gave me ideas for this story! I've actually decided to take this story in a completely new direction, so if you don't like zombies, you should still stay and give the new direction a chance. I didn't have to change either of the earlier chapters, so everything still applies. I tried to make this chapter longer, so please enjoy.**

**July 17, 2012 - 8:42 AM**

**Infection Day 11**

**Jade's POV**

I woke up to a pounding in my head and pain throughout my body. I opened my eyes, but my vision was too hazy to make out anything clear. It wasn't bright, but it wasn't dark either. As my vision cleared, I realized something was wrong. The lights were off, it was way too silent, and none of the machines by my bed were even on. I slowly sat up, and looked around. There were flowers sitting in a vase by my bed.

They were dead. I reached out to touch them, not sure if this was reality. When they fell apart at my touch, and I felt them crumple, I knew this wasn't a dream. This wasn't some nightmare I would wake up from. There would be no waking up in my bed, thankful it wasn't real.

This was real.

I slowly slid the needles out of my arms, then yanked the tubes out of my nose. I slid my legs off the bed, then slowly stood up. I must have been down for awhile, because my legs were weak and wobbly. I supported myself against the wall until I stopped shaking, then limped towards the window. I moved the blinds out of the way, then covered my eyes against the brightness. As the light became more bearable, I was able to see the front courtyard of the hospital I was in, and the streets beyond it.

They were empty, save for a few abandoned cars and what looked like more than a few bodies. It appeared that I was in the upper floors of the hospital, but I had no way to tell which floor I was on. I limped over to the door, unsure of what else to do. I slowly opened the door, looked up and down the hallway, then opened it all the way. I walked out into the hallway, then stopped, not sure where I should go. I decided anywhere was better than here in an abandoned hospital, so I started limping down the hallway towards a desk. I reached a door just before the desk, but it was locked. I tried to push it open, but it wouldn't budge. I turned around and started the other direction, but suddenly something slammed into the door behind me. I whirled around in time to see a bloodied arm break the glass window in the door and reach towards me.

The face behind the arm was shredded, I could barely recognize it as human. It's hair was matted down with dried blood, and it's eyes were filled with a dark crimson. The mouth was torn apart, most of the teeth were missing, and the skin wasn't even there. One ear was torn in half, the other missing completely, and the nose had been ripped off.

It was the most horrific, disgusting thing I had ever seen.

Is this what the world had come to now? Humanity extinguished, replaced by these mindless husks? Was this the Hell I now lived in?

Would I ever escape it?

It took me a moment, but I managed to collect myself enough to start limping in the other direction. I rounded the corner, and found that there was another desk here, and it was covered in blood. But what I saw was the pistol lying on top of it. I tried to rush over to it, but tripped and fell, and I hit the ground right next to the desk.

Everything started to get dark, but I could make out a shape moving towards me from the other end of the hallway. It wasn't moving fast, just limping lazily towards me. I tried to reach for the pistol, but the desk was too tall. I tried picking myself up with one arm, but couldn't get very high. I could feel the pistol at my finger tips, and when I looked over, the figure was much closer and moving much faster. I managed to pull the pistol towards me a little. With a one last desperate attempt, I threw myself up and grabbed the pistol.

As I fell back down, I tried to aim it at the figure in front of me, now only feet away, but when I pulled the trigger, nothing happened. Only a click. Empty.

Before I could even start to think about dying, a loud crack echoed through the hall, and the figure in front of me collapsed to the side. I heard footsteps coming towards me, and was surprised to see a human face above me.

"Ah, dammit." He said, picking me up and looking me over. He had a rifle slung on his back. He helped me stand up, then looked me in the eyes. "Are you infected?" I tried to answer, but all that came out was a groan. "I'll take that as a no for now. Come on, we need to get moving." He supported me as I managed to limp through the hallways with him, seemingly going nowhere.

Finally, we came to a barricaded door, painted a very bright green, which he opened. He set me down on a bed, then went back and closed the door. That was the last thing I saw before I blacked out.

* * *

**July 17, 2012 - 9:07 AM**

**Infection Day 11**

**Jade's POV**

"Hey, wake up." I came to and found the guy who saved me lightly slapping my face. I sat up slowly, and he went to sit at a nearby chair. I took a moment to look around. We were in a lab of some sort, but this section was cleared out, and had two cots shoved against the wall. There was a pile of boxes in a nearby corner, and a couple of duffel bags in between the cots. The other guy was sitting in a chair with a rifle slung on his back, a pistol holstered on his hip. He was leaning forward, facing me.

"How are you feeling?" He asked slowly. He had a slight Southern drawl.

"Terrible. What's going on? Where is everyone? Who are you?" I managed to answer.

"I'll explain the situation, but first, you need to tell me what your injuries are. Were you bitten, scratched, cut, anything like that?"

"No, I wrecked my car." He let out a sigh of relief.

"Good. Hopefully, you are not infected."

"Infected with what? What the hell is going on?"

"Keep your voice down! No telling how many of the infected are here." He paused for a second.

"My name is Gary Hendrickson. I was one of the scientists here looking for a cure. But there is no cure. There never will be."

"The virus didn't exist until 2 weeks ago. It spread throughout the West coast within a few days, infecting most of the population. People weren't even aware they were infected until it was too late. People started dropping in the street."

"The way it works, the virus begins eating into the brain, altering it and causing a short coma. While the mind is out, the virus blocks out the entire immune system. It eats away at the brain until all that is left is basic motor functions and base animal instincts."

"At this point, it brings the body back, and lets it run free while it eats away at nonessential organs, like the appendix, skin, things like that. The infected then attack and eat anything that has flesh. Somehow, they know not to attack each other. Eventually, the virus kills the victim, rapidly eating away the heart, lungs, and brain."

I sat in silence and took this all in.

"The situation now, as far as I know, is that the entire West coast, as far south as Chile and north up into Alaska, is dominated by the infected. There's parts of Asia that have been infected as well. I'm pretty sure that's it though. I don't think it's spread very far east yet. But that might have changed, the last I heard anything was 3 days ago." It took another minute for this to sink in. After thinking for a moment, I realized that more questions would be pointless.

"What do we do now?" I asked. He smiled.

"First, we need to get you some proper clothing. By the way, what's your name?"

"Jade West."

* * *

**July 18, 2012 - 11:35 AM**

**Infection Day 12**

**Jade's POV**

After spending yesterday finding my clothes, and some new ones, and packing up some supplies, Gary and I left the hospital to try to get out of the city. We were standing out in front of the hospital now, looking for a working car.

"What about this one?" I yelled over to him as I walked towards a Chevy Malibu that had slid onto the sidewalk.

"Hell no, we are NOT driving one of those piece-of-shit Chevys anywhere. We need to find a truck that can take a hit. Like that." He said pointing down a street. I couldn't see where he was pointing, so I walked over next to him, and saw the truck he was referring to. But this was no ordinary truck. It had a crew cab, a 6.5 foot bed, and was all black.

"Ford 2012 F-350 Super Duty T-Rex Edition. I have only ever seen one of these, and that was in Ohio. We are taking this truck." Gary said as he walked up to the truck, admiration evident in his voice.

"Are the keys even in it? Does it have any gas?" I said as he opened the drivers side door.

"Holy shit!" He yelled and jumped away from the truck. Oh, this was bad. I rushed over to him and helped him up.

"What is it?!"

"Dead guy in the drivers seat. And he is one ugly son of a bitch." Gary said as he pulled the dead body from the drivers seat. As the body hit the ground, I couldn't help the disgust that came over me. Whoever this poor guy was, he had died slowly and painfully. His stomach was torn open, and his intestines were on the ground. One eye was missing, and his face had so many cuts in it that it was a wonder he had any face left.

"Score!" Gary yelled as the truck rumbled to life. I looked back up at him as he opened the back door and started digging through stuff, occasionally throwing something out. I walked over and climbed in on the passengers side and looked at what he was digging through.

There were tons of knives, swords, axes, and some guns and ammunition. This guy had been ready for the apocalypse. Too bad it killed him before he could fight back. But his loss was my gain, so I'm not complaining. I grabbed two of the knives, one a folding pocket knife, the other a 7" straight blade with a sheath. I grabbed one of the pistols, a couple mags, and shoved them into my pocket. Last I grabbed a shotgun and a bandoleer shell sling and threw it over my shoulder. I wish I had a mirror, because I know I must look totally badass right now. I closed the door and waited while Gary tossed our bag into the back and climbed in. I looked at the fuel gauge and thanked God it was full. Gary threw it into drive and we rumbled out onto the road.

"We need to make one stop before we leave the city. My cousin owned a gun shop on the west side of the city. He's probably barricaded himself inside." Gary said, turning away from the hospital.

"And where do we go after that?" I asked as he bulldozed his way through 4 cars.

"We need to start heading east. There were rumors going around before everything really went to shit that an air force base in Nevada managed to hold out against the infection. I think we should head there."

"First, we need to find my friend, Tori. It's extremely important."

"More important than surviving this Hell?" I took a deep breath before whispering my response.

"Yeah, its more important than that."

**I know I don't deserve any of your reviews for my way-too-long update time, but please? Updates give me life. **


	4. Rules Of Engagement

**A/N: I know this one is incredibly short, but it is necessary for the story. Don't worry, a much longer chapter is in the works, to be posted in the next few days. Until then, I apologize. Here is chapter 4, Rules of Engagement.**

* * *

July 18, 2012 - 6:37 PM

Infection Day 12

MSgt. James C. Grayson - U.S. Army Rangers

"Alright boys, here's the deal. We're going deep into the infected area, to Nellis AFB. They've managed to hold out against the virus and the infected, so we're dropping in there to help them clear the area. After that, we are to head south and link up with SEAL Team 4 east of Los Angeles via ground transport." I strained to hear the Captain over the roaring of the C-5's engines. "There's been reports of a civilian survivor of the attack that started the virus. She showed no symptoms, and the boys up the chain think she's immune. Name is Jade West. This mission is top priority, gentlemen. Either we bring her out alive, or we die making it happen. There is no failure here."

"Rules of Engagement, sir?" asked Royen.

"If it is a threat, neutralize it. There is no such thing as collateral damage in this one. We are to do everything in our power to get her to the safe zone. There is no failure here, gentlemen. If she dies, so does everyone else." I couldn't help the feeling that came over me when the Captain said that. This mission wasn't just for the sake of the country.

This was for the sake of all humanity.

* * *

July 18, 2012 - 7:23 PM

Infection Day 12

Saif el-Yasin - AL cell - northern New Mexico

"Allah has finally leveled his judgement on the Americans." I whispered to the rest of the cell. "But one of the infidels is immune to the disease. She must die before the Americans get ahold of her. Go, my brothers, find this woman, Jade West, and send her to Allah." I smiled proudly as the other men of the cell started gathering their weapons and loading trucks.

* * *

**A/N: Leave a review? Please? I need the luck they bring. I'm buying a new shotgun this week, and old Winchester 1400, and I need the luck to give me the gun clean. I don't want to have to clean it. So please leave a review. Oh, and if you want to hear the greatest song of all time (to me, anyways), go listen to "Something To Be Proud Of" by Montgomery Gentry. It's fucking amazing.**


	5. Old Friend

**A/N: Another somewhat long chapter! WOO! Not really. Anyway, back to important things. Like, some people have left reviews asking where the hell Tori is. Don't worry, her story will be explained. But if I just told it to you, it would ruin half the story. So, you will just have to wait. And someone asked about why Jade is immune. That might be explained. I don't know if I want to use up the energy explaining it just yet. If I do explain it, it will be a part of the story. Oh, and some aspects of the last chapter have been changed, but it was only dates and times, so if you aren't paying attention to that, then don't worry. Ok, now, my awesomeness readers, on to chapter 5!**

* * *

July 18, 2012 - 7:13 PM

Infection Day 12

Jade West - Eastern Los Angeles

We finally turned onto the street Gary's cousin's shop was on after getting ourselves lost seven times. While we had been driving, I had saw that the religious fanatics in the city had gone to town after this happened. There were hundreds doomsday writings all over the city, about this being "God's wrath" and things like that. I couldn't find it in me to laugh at it. How can I be sure this isn't God? Hell, at this point, it doesn't really matter. As soon as the world ended, the "why" doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is "Who" and "Where".

We managed to keep away from any large groups of infected, and the small groups Gary ran over. All in all, a pretty quiet day. The sun was setting, and I was happy to be stopping before dark.

But as we approached the shop, Gary visibly stiffened. It was on a corner at an intersection, which seemed like a tactical disadvantage to begin with.

"What is it?" I asked, scanning the area for threats.

"Something's not right. Stay here, let me check it out." He said, turning off the truck and getting out. He started towards the store, then stopped and looked around for a second. Then he walked up to the door and knocked. He started to knock again, this time with the butt of his rifle, when he stopped. He suddenly broke into a sprint for the truck. He slung himself into the drivers seat, starting the truck and slamming it into gear. But before he could even touch the gas, a truck drove out onto the street from the other side of the store.

With a machine gun in the bed.

The machine gunner let out a short burst into the engine of our truck, effectively disabling it. The other truck pulled out into the road, then stopped and the driver got out, holding a shotgun. Both the driver and the machine gunner were wearing gas masks and military style vests, but they were clearly not military.

"Get out slowly, with your hands up." Gary said, opening his door. I took a deep breath, then did the same. I climbed out, then closed the door. I stood as still as possible, holding my hands up, and I assumed Gary was doing the same. The tension was unbelievable. Total silence.

Until a loud shot rang out from somewhere above us, and the machine gunner dropped. The driver fired once before being silenced by another shot from above. Everything was quiet again, until I heard a pained groan from the other side of the truck. I ran over and found Gary on the ground, clutching his stomach. The blood was already seeping through his shirt and onto the asphalt. I immediately dropped down, and tried to think of something to do.

"You're gonna be alright, Gary! Come on, keep it together!" I said, more for myself than for him. I tried to move his hands so I could get to the wound, but there was no point. I was able to get his shirt out of the way, and saw the several dime-sized holes in his stomach.

There was nothing I could do. I couldn't do anything for him now except put him out of his misery. I slid Gary's revolver out of his holster and cocked it. I held the barrel against his temple.

"I'm sorry." I whispered before pulling the trigger. Everything seemed to slow down as I pulled the trigger. The flash as the bullet left the barrel was blinding. The crack of the shot was deafening.

The silence after was crippling.

The blood splattered onto the asphalt, staining the ground with its ugly reminder of death. I sat there, frozen in place, unable to bring myself to move. I had just taken another human life. Not one of the infected, I had just killed another living person. The fact that he would have died anyway softened the blow, but it was still a lot to take in.

I passed out outside the store, too beaten to continue.

* * *

July 19, 2012 - 10:27 AM

Infection Day 13

Jade West - Hendrickson Firearms - Eastern LA

When I woke up, it was daylight. I sat up and looked around at the building I was in. The windows were barricaded, with slides to see through them. The door was reinforced with steel, and the walls were barren. I was sitting on a couch against a wall in the front room of the store. There was an open door to my left, and I could hear voices through it.

I stood up and walked through the door, unsure of what was going on. I slowly opened the door, then walked into a back room full of supplies, and two guys standing in the middle of it, arguing.

"Look, man, we need to pack up the essentials, and leave. We'll take your truck and the one outside, and we'll head out of the city, to the east. The radio said that there's a refugee center near Las Vegas. We'll head up there, and help them hold out. We'll have food, water, and hopefully some sort of plumbing." I heard one say.

"But we have enough ammo here to hold out against a thousand of those fuckers, and enough food and water to last us weeks!" The second guy said.

"But what about after we run out? We won't have enough supplies to travel, and we can't eat bullets. We need to leave, and get out of the city." The first one countered. I decided to interject.

"And what if your refugee center isn't there? What any thought of a refugee camp is just a pipe dream?" I said as I walked into the room. They both jumped when I spoke. One of them had a gas mask on.

"So what are you suggesting we do?" The barefaced one asked.

"I think we should stay in the city, scavenge whatever we can, and clean out the infected." I didn't tell them the real reason I wanted to stay. Both would immediately shut me down. They both stood quietly, before the masked one responded.

"That'll work until I can convince dumbass here that we need to leave." He walked out through another door with a sign above it that said "GARAGE".

"So who are you?" I asked the guy who was still here.

"Rick Hendrickson. I owned this shop before... well, you know. Hey, thanks for shooting Gary. You saved him a lot of pain and suffering."

"You're not upset?"

"Oh, I am, but we'll have time for guilt and remorse later. There's more important things to worry about right now."

"Oh. What about the other guy? Who's he?" I changed the subject.

"John Landen. He's an-"

"Johnny?!"

"Wait, Ja-" I rushed out through the garage door before Rick could finish, eager to talk to John. John had been an even closer friend than Cat, despite the fact that he hadn't been around near as long. I had met him a year after high school, and we had been extremely close friends until a year ago, when he had moved out of the city for work. He was a mechanical engineer, constantly doing jobs with guns for the military. He had been the only one who truly understood me. Not even Beck knew me as well as he did.

When I came into the garage, I had to stop for a minute. It was pretty damn big for the size of the store. There were two humvees in it, both painted black with the same red designs on each. They had different machine guns mounted on the top of them, and I recognized one as the same as from the truck that had attacked Gary and I. The trunk of each was open, stuffed full of supplies, probably for a quick escape if needed. There were even a set of grilles on each truck that looked like they were designed to bulldoze shit out of the way. There was a massive door in the side of the building, facing the other street. There were also a bunch of big toolboxes spread around the room, and a generator was running in another room of the building. John was hunched over a large workbench on the other side of the garage, and he looked over his shoulder when I entered. I heard him mutter something as I walked up.

"John, why didn't you say anything? I'm so happy you're alive!" I said excitedly, trying to hug him. Like I said, closer friend than anyone else. I felt more comfortable around him than anything else.

"Because things have changed, Jade. I'm... I'm infected."

* * *

**Ooh, don't you just love cliffhangers? Me neither. I hate them with a passion. So while I go blow off some steam with some late-night shotgun shooting, why not leave a review? You know you want to...**


	6. Breach

**A/N: I'm sorry about the wait, I just really didn't feel like updating. That, and I was working late last night and the night before at the Cincinnati Country Club. Jesus, do people get trashed down there. It's not even funny, it's just sad. But now I'm back, and glad to be here! Also, I'm working on a chapter that will explain exactly what happened to Tori during the beginning of the outbreak. It's gonna be pretty fucking awesome. Anyway, my loyal readers, here is chapter 6 of Fatality, "Breach".**

July 19, 2012 - 2:27 PM

Infection Day 13

MSgt. James C. Grayson - U.S. Army Rangers - Nellis Air Force Base, Southern Nevada

* * *

"Go, go, go!" The Captain yelled as soon as the cargo bay door opened. As soon as we were out, the Stryker Infantry Fighting Vehicle followed, then out came our two HMMVW trucks, both outfitted with M134D Miniguns chambered for the 7.62x39mm round. There were 20 of us here, so the vehicles were full up with personnel. As soon as we had all of our equipment unloaded, the C-5 Galaxy cargo plane took off down the runway.

While most of us got into covering positions, the rest started unpacking gear, and loading it into the trucks. I was on one of the Miniguns, scanning the area for threats. I couldn't help but notice how barren the area was. There was nobody anywhere in sight. 3 of the base hangars were open, and the main base looked abandoned.

"Ready to go, sir!" Royen yelled from the back of the rear Humvee. Specialist Royen was new, straight out of Ranger School. He was supposed to be one of our snipers, but I didn't expect much from him. He was too inexperienced. No simulator can replicate a true combat situation.

"Mount up! We're going to the base!" The captain yelled. Everyone got into their vehicles, and we started off, my Humvee in front, the Stryker in the middle, and the other Humvee in the back. As we took off towards the base, I was expecting to find everyone barricaded inside the buildings. But as we got closer, the situation became much clearer.

Bodies littered the ground around the base, and there were infected walking around all over the place. There were bloodstains everywhere. Doors had been broken down in almost every building, and from what I could see, there was only one building that was secure, and it was the hangar that led to the underground section of the base.

As we approached, the infected began to take notice of us.

"Captain, are we clear to kill the infected?" I yelled into the radio.

"Roger, Sergeant. Kill 'em all." I opened fire on a small group of infected that was closest to us. I let the gun spin up, then I started firing. As the rounds chewed into them, they dropped to the ground, bullet holes littering their bodies. As soon as I fired, every other infected on the base made a beeline for the convoy. I could see hundreds of them in the distance, all headed straight for us. I mowed most of them down, and the rest were knocked out by Jackson in the rear Humvee's turret.

We drove towards the closed hangar, seeing as it was the only secure place left on the base. We stopped up against the hangar door, and the Captain got out.

"Grayson, with me."

"Yes, sir." I said, climbing out of the Humvee and jumping to the ground. I followed the Captain to the side of the hangar door, towards a control panel. I saw someone had shot the shit out of it, though, because it was just a sparking, mangled mess of wires and shredded metal.

"Somebody didn't want anything getting in." I said, turning to face the open desert.

"But we need to get in. Go get PFC Thomas, have him rig the door with C-4."

"Sir? I don't think that'll be enough to get through the door. This is reinforced steel, at least 4 inches thick, probably more." I said, not entirely sure how he didn't know that.

"So what do you suggest we do, Sergeant?" He asked.

"Look, sir, whoever is in there is secure, we don't need to worry about them. We can radio command, have them bring in a larger force, with the right equipment to get this door open. I think we should just tell command the situation, then proceed with the rest of the mission. We need to find that girl before its too late." I was serious. There was no way we were getting through this door with what we had. After a moment, the Captain nodded.

"Yeah, you're right. Tell them to mount up, we're going south."

* * *

July 19, 2012 - 3:13 PM

Infection Day 13

PFC Glenn Travers - U.S. Army - 37th Infantry

Infection Zone Checkpoint 62

Arizona-New Mexico Border

It was quiet. This area didn't have very much activity, being out in the middle of the desert. Every now and then, an infected would wander in from the distance, and our sniper on post would kill it. Other than that, our time was spent playing cards and smoking. Or sleeping. The lieutenant in charge here was pretty easygoing, as long as we did our job, which right now was keep the infected from getting through, he didn't give a damn what we did. We worked in shifts, three men at a time.

Right now, there were only two of us, because our sniper was taking a piss. I looked back the safe zone, wondering when they would decide to just nuke the infected area and be done with it. Despite the survivors in the area, it would be more costly in lives to try to contain the infected through conventional means.

I saw something coming towards us from the safe zone. Odd. We weren't scheduled for resupply for a couple days, and hadn't heard anything from Command about troop movements through here.

"Hey Mike, looks like we've got visitors. Look like you're actually doing something." I called over to Specialist Chu, the only other guy working right now besides our sniper, Sergeant Poller.

"What's going on?" Poller asked as he walked out of the main building.

"Company's here." I said pointing towards the oncoming trucks as I got loaded onto my machine gun, a 7.62mm M-240B medium machine gun. Poller picked up his binoculars and trained them on the approaching trucks, still over a mile away.

"They're not ours." He said after a second.

"So who the hell are they?" Chu asked.

"I don't know. Stay ready on the guns."

I had a bad feeling about this. These trucks weren't supposed to be here, and they weren't slowing down. They were a mere 600 yards away now, and weren't even beginning to stop. The Sergeant was standing right in the middle of the road, waving at them to stop. The trucks just kept coming. They were now only 50 yards away now, and I barely had enough time to grab Poller and pull him out of the way before the trucks rammed through the gate and into the infected zone.

And then I started thinking, why the hell would anyone want to go in there? They weren't military, and they sure as hell weren't smart...

So who would go to this much trouble just to get themselves killed?

**A/N: So another cliffhanger... Go ahead and leave a review telling me how much you hate me for leaving another cliffhanger. Go ahead. The button is right down there... Come on... Take out all your rage and frustration by leaving me a little review... You know you want to...**

**Ok, now I'm done. But seriously, review.**


	7. Rescue

**So I'm back! And to celebrate my return to fanfiction, I'm giving you guys my longest chapter yet! I'm gonna keep this short cause I wanna get lunch before my break is over. So read and enjoy!**

* * *

July 19, 2012 - 1:35 PM

Infection Day 13

Jade West - Hendrickson Firearms - Eastern LA

"W-what?"

"I'm infected, Jade."

"No you're not! You're still talking, and you're not sick, so how do you know you're infected?" He took a deep breath and held it, then began unclipping straps, and slowly lifted the mask.

His face was sunken in, his skin was gray, and his eyes... they weren't their normal shade of blue. His now bloodshot eyes were a dark shade of red. He really was infected. He slowly put the mask back on, then turned back around.

"Now you know. I wear the mask to slow the airborne strain from infecting me further. They'll never let me into the safe zone. And eventually the virus will kill me, so I really don't have much to look forward to. I'm going to die in this hellhole, and there isn't a damn thing anyone can do about it." I couldn't accept it.

"But isn't there some chance-"

"No. It doesn't matter, anyways. I've made my peace with it, and am going to use the little time I have left to help any survivors." I could feel myself breaking down. The closest friend that I had ever had was going to die, and there wasn't anything I could do about it.

"But John-"

"Jade. What's done is done, there's nothing we can do about it. You need to accept that and move on." I hugged him as tightly as I could, crying into his shoulder. I don't normally let my emotions out like this, but John is the exception.

"I hate to intrude, but we've got company."

I turned around and saw Rick standing in the doorway to the store.

"How many?" John asked.

"Too many to stay and fight. We need to pack up and leave, now. We've got ten minutes, maybe less." John scrambled up and helped Rick get everything tossed into the Humvees.

"Jade, go out front and watch for the looters. When you see them, get back here as fast as you can. We'll get you when we're done." I ran up through the door and towards the window. I opened up the cover on it, then looked outside. The first thing I saw was the truck Gary and I had used to escape. Then I remembered all the weapons and ammo shoved into the backseat. I debated for a second on whether or not to get it, deciding it'd be smarter to get it than to leave it. Besides, I've got ten minutes, right?

I ran out the door and opened the doors of the truck. I repacked one of the two duffel bags and brought it inside to John and Rick.

"Thanks, now get back out there." Said Rick as he threw it into the Humvee. I rushed back out to pack the last duffel bag, almost falling as I got outside.

As I started to pack the bag, I heard the distant sound of trucks. I finished packing the bag, then rushed back towards the shop right as the first truck drove around the corner. I almost made it to the door when something slammed into my arm, spinning me around and onto the ground. I knew I'd been shot, so I didn't bother looking at the wound. I grabbed the bag with my good arm and ran back inside. As I rushed into the back part of the shop, I saw that the room that had been filled with supplies was now stripped bare. I ran into the garage and saw that both Humvees were running, and that the garage had also been stripped of all supplies. I threw the bag into the back of the closest Humvee, then jumped into the back seat and slammed the door shut.

"We heard the gunshots, so we figured you were already com-" It was Rick.

"Just go! Where's a first aid kit?"

"Under the seat. Why?"

"I got hit in the arm on the way back." The big garage doors opened, and John sped out first, followed by Rick and I. We turned out onto the street and sped away from the shop.

I started working on my arm as soon as we were on the road. I checked the other side of my arm for an exit hole. Finding one, I grabbed a roll of gauze from the first aid kit and wrapped it around my arm a few times before securing it with tape. I'd have more time to deal with it later.

I climbed up front next to Rick. "Where are we going?"

"East. We're going to try to get into the safe zone. The border runs northeast from El Paso in West Texas up to the western edge of Lake Superior. At least it did the last time we heard anything on the radio."

"But what about John?" I asked.

"He won't make it that far. He's been infected for a week now, so he doesn't have much longer, maybe a few days."

"Isn't there anything we can do? Something to slow the infection?"

"Unfortunately, no. Just help him use the time he has the best we can." Rick said solemnly. "Try to see if you can raise anyone on the radio." He suggested. I picked up the mic and flipped the radio on.

"Hello, does anyone hear me?"

* * *

July 19, 2012 - 2:02 PM

Infection Day 13

Ben Goodman - Somewhere northeast of San Diego

"Damn, if only every day could be as peaceful as this one." Nick said from across the rooftop.

"Only in our dreams, dude." I replied. Nick and I were currently on watch for our small group. There were only 7 of us left after an infected snuck into our camp a week ago. We were currently barricaded inside a small gas station in the middle of a small town that was still overrun with infected. Despite the isolation, getting supplies wasn't difficult because of our proximity to San Diego and the surrounding areas. Then the radio began to crackle.

"Hello... anyone read..." I could barely make out the voice coming through the static. I grabbed the radio and tried to raise the person again.

"Hello, hello, we read you, over!" Silence. Nothing but static. "Come on, come on, respond." I silently urged.

"Ben, we've got infected coming in! A lot of them, coming down the street!" Nick called over.

"I'll be there in a sec, I've got someone on the radio!" I replied.

"Well hurry up!" He yelled back.

"Are you there? Pickup already!" I heard through the radio. I grabbed it again and responded. "Thank God we're not the only ones. We've got two Humvees armed to the teeth, and we're headed south from Los Angeles, where are you?" After giving them directions, I said, "Have those teeth ready!", before rushing over to Nick to start taking out the horde.

* * *

"Sounds like they're in trouble. Let's go." John said over the radio after Rick got off the air with the other guy. He got off the highway that we had been traveling on to start towards the camp. Then Rick turned towards me.

"Jade, when we get close, I'm gonna have you take the wheel while I get on the gun. Just keep following John, he'll probably just drive right through the infected once we get there." I nodded before looking back at the shotgun in my hands. I hadn't taken the time to look at it before when I pulled it out of that truck. It was a Remington 870 Express pump-action shotgun, could hold 5 rounds plus one in the chamber, and had been modified with a black and red tiger stripe stock, a vertical grip on the pump, a tactical flashlight attached to the side of the pump, and a EOTech holographic sight atop the receiver. Looking through it, I saw the reticle was a biohazard symbol, colored a bright neon green. I pulled the pistol out of the holster on my hip and looked it over too. It was an FN Five-seveN pistol, the only one in the world to shoot a rifle round. It had tridium night sights, and was built without a safety. The magazine held 20 rounds, which was more than enough to cause a shitton of damage. I reholstered the pistol and put the shotgun down before leaning back in the seat and closing my eyes to think about everything that had happened.

* * *

"Ben, there's too many of them! We need to get out of here before they surround us!" Jake yelled from the stairs.

"Just go! Get everyone else out of here! We'll cover you until you get to the cars!" I yelled back as I shot another infected trying to climb up onto the roof. I heard him scramble down the stairs, hopefully to get everyone else out.

"Hey, Ben, you think we have any chance of getting out of this?" Nick called from the front of the building.

"Probably not. Least we could do is make sure that they make it out alive." I called back as I watched the group make a break for the trucks on the next street. Then I saw an infected start to head towards one of the girls in the group. "Tori, look out!" I yelled before putting a .308 round into it's head, causing the already weakened skull to shatter. She stumbled, but managed to stay up and made it to the trucks unscathed. I watched as they drove away, then returned to the front of the building with Nick to take out as many of the infected as possible before we got overrun.

I heard the M2 long before I saw it, and was relieved to hear it. Nick and I were almost out of ammo. Nick fired his last round then pulled out his tomahawk to take care of any that climbed up. I still had a few rounds left, and decided to save them and just use my bayonet.

* * *

"Ok, Jade, we're almost there. Go ahead and take the wheel." He said as he climbed into the back. I reached over and held the wheel as I climbed into the seat to drive. I noticed that the gas was a lot stiffer than almost every car I had ever driven, which surprised me, but I quickly acclimated and continued to follow John. After a few minutes, I heard Rick pull the slide back on the gun, signalling he was ready to go. As we pulled into the small town, I saw a large number of infected spread throughout the area, a lot of which were beginning to take notice of us.

"Here we go!" John called through the radio. He started running right through zombies, turning them into oversized roadkill. Rick opened up on a couple of small groups that were in the area. After another minute or so, we rounded a corner and saw a massive horde of zombies surrounding a small store. And on the roof were two men who waved at us and pointed at the huge group of zombies. Rick tore into the group with the massive .50 caliber M2, tearing each and every one of them to shreds. I drove right up to the store, stopping alongside it so that the two guys could jump down. I heard the thuds, and they climbed into the back seat. I drove away from the building, making sure John was doing the same before I sped out of the town. I stopped once I reached the outskirts of the town, where there were no infected in sight. I climbed out, followed by Rick and the two men we had just saved.

"So, who are you guys?" I heard Rick ask as I checked the bullet wound in my arm.

"Ben. This is Nick. Thanks for the help back there, you really saved our asses."

"No problem. So where's the rest of your group? Over the radio, it sounded like there was a lot more of you."

"We covered them from the roof while they escaped. I don't know where they went, but they did make it to the truck, so they should be safe." I turned towards them as I finished checking my arm. John was just pulling up.

"How many were in your group?" I asked from the Humvee.

"There were six more of us that got away. Three women, two men, and a little girl."

"I don't know about you Rick, but I think we should go find their group. Pool our manpower and resources, and we'll all live longer." I said.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." John said as he got out of the other humvee. "But we also need to find a place to stay for the night. We only have a few hours of daylight left, and the infected become a lot more dangerous at night. Faster, stronger, and somehow smarter. We don't have enough room in the humvees, and honestly I wouldn't sleep in one of those anyway."

"Sounds good. Theres an old factory complex just up the highway that was abandoned a couple months ago when the company went bankrupt. Shouldn't be that hard to take, and it'll give us shelter for the night. You could probably drive the humvees right into the main building through the loading bay doors." The one called Nick said.

"How do you know?" Rick asked.

"I used to work there. I know exactly where it is."

"What about the rest of the group, Nick? The only one who knows anything about finding proper shelter is Jake, and he's a moron!"

"We don't have a choice. If you want to go out at night to find them and get yourself killed, that's fine, but I am not going to risk my friends or my supplies by going out after dark." John said before climbing back into the humvee.

"He's right, Ben. Getting killed is not going to help anyone, especially not the rest of the group, and definitely not Ash or Jenny." Nick said. Ben looked at the ground like he was fighting the urge to go anyway. Finally, he looked back at Nick and nodded. "Alright. Now let's get to the factory."

We drove down the highway about two miles before pulling up to a massive manufacturing plant. There were dozens of different buildings in the complex, and the whole thing was fenced in by a fence that was more than twice my height. We drove straight through the gate, and around the place until we came up to a pair of massive bay doors behind the largest building.

"Hang on, I'll go get the doors open." Nick said as he climbed out of the humvee. He was about halfway to the doors when an infected man fell out of a nearby truck.

"Nick, behind you!" Ben called as the infected climbed to it's feet and started towards Nick. Nick turned and as soon as he saw the infected, pulled out a pistol and put three bullets into it's brain. Blood splattered on the ground behind the infected, and it dropped to the ground in a heap. The gunshots echoed around the complex, and immediately I realized that any infected inside the plant had just heard the shots. Nick turned back and ran towards the doors, walking into an office outside of them when he got there. After a few moments, the door on the right rumbled to life and began to open. John drove in first, and we followed, picking up Nick on the way in. The room we drove into was massive and empty at the same time.

"This warehouse was cleared out when the company closed. It's been empty since." Nick said. The bay door closed behind us, and the room was once again filled with darkness, the only light sources being the windows in the tops of the walls of the building. We drove into the middle of the room and turned off the humvees. Nick went to turn on the lights, and the rest of us began to unload a few supplies. Most of it was left inside the humvees, but things like water and sleeping bags were needed for the night. We all agreed that we would need a watch to make sure no infected came in. John took the first watch, Ben the second, and Rick the third. I took the last one, because I wanted to watch the sunrise. I laid down in my sleeping bag, and was soon asleep.

I woke with a start, and looked around to see whose watch it was. It looked like both John and Rick were still asleep, so I called out to Ben with a whisper.

"Yeah?" He said back.

"Just wanted to know who was on watch." I said as I walked towards his voice. He was leaning against the humvee. I sat down next to him.

"So who is Ash and Jenny?" I asked, remembering Nick's comment from earlier.

"My wife and daughter. That's who our group was. My family, Nick's, and a few people we picked up on the way."

"How old is your daughter?"

"She's 12. But talking to her, you'd think she was twice that with how smart she is. She was in all the special groups at school. I remember she loved talking to Andre about music." Andre. No, it couldn't be the same one.

"Who's Andre?" I asked, wanting to be sure.

"We picked him and his friend up about two weeks ago. They worked in music before all this I guess. His friend, she was an amazing singer. She would sing for us every night before we went to sleep." Oh my god.

"What was her name?" I managed to ask.

"Tori Vega." He answered.

* * *

**And, in my usual style, I give you guys a cliffhanger to end the chapter. I'm starting work on the new chapter tonight, so make sure to review so I gain the power of supertyping to finish the chapter soon! Now to go get some lunch... I'm starving...**


	8. Surrounded

**A/N: Hey, everybody! I managed to finish this chapter just before dinner, so the ending is a little weird for an ending, but I wanted to get an update out. Ok, enjoy the chapter, I have to go eat.**

July 20th, 2012 - 2:11 AM

Infection Day 14

Jade West - Factory complex northeast of San Diego

* * *

Five minutes. That was the difference between finding Tori and losing her again. Five fucking minutes.

"She used to talk to Andre about this girl she had loved since high school." I could feel my heart stop. No, it couldn't be... Tori couldn't possibly love me, could she? Do I love her? There were so many thoughts flying around my head, I almost missed what Ben said next. "Said that she had found her just before all this started, but then lost her again." No.

"Did she tell you her name?" I managed to choke out.

"Yeah, it was-" He didn't have a chance to answer. The entire floor of the warehouse was suddenly illuminated by bright floodlights on the second floor catwalk. I was blinded for a moment, but as my eyes began to adjust, I could see a number of silhouettes surrounding us from the catwalk, along with a few on the ground. And all were armed, aiming their weapons at us.

"What the fuck?!" John exclaimed as he jumped up from his sleep. He quickly looked around, and realizing the situation, stopped and looked towards us. "The fuck is this?!" He was pissed.

"Hey!" yelled someone from the catwalk. We all turned towards the voice. "You've intruded into our territory. Leave now, before we shoot."

"What? What territory? We just wanted shelter for the night!" Rick yelled back.

"Well, go find it somewhere else. You've got 10 seconds to start packing." I was still stunned beyond belief. Why the hell were these people forcing us out of perfect cover? What the hell did we do?

Then I smelled it.

_Fuck._

"John, we need to go. Now." I said.

"Jade, what are you-" Rick started to say, but stopped as he came to the same realization as me. He immediately started to pack up the supplies, and I did the same. Ben woke up Nick, and as we all finished, John was still standing there, astonished. I walked up to him while the others finished packing.

"Meth." I whispered in his ear. After a second, he started towards the humvees. We climbed in and were out the door in another minute. I was riding up in front of the lead humvee, with John driving. Rick was driving the other one with Ben and Nick.

"Were they seriously cooking in there?" John asked after a minute.

"Yeah." I replied. "Probably one of the cartels came across the border when the west was overrun. Come into the infected zone, cook up as much meth and ecstasy as they can, then just wait for the people to come back into the area after the infected are taken care of."

"Pretty smart for a bunch of crackheads." I didn't bother to correct him about the crackhead remark.

"What I don't understand is why they didn't just shoot us."

"Probably didn't want the attention, or maybe they just wanted to conserve their ammo." He said. I still didn't like it, but all that mattered was that we were alive, I guess.

It was still dark, so John and Rick wanted to stay on the road as long as possible before we stopped. We had been driving northeast for a couple miles now. Then I looked out the window and saw a dim light coming from a building in the distance.

"John, look." I pointed to the building. He nodded and turned on the next road towards it. Rick followed in the other humvee. As we got closer, I saw that the building was an old house.

"Probably using a gas fireplace. They're probably all still asleep." Rick said over the radio.

"I thought all the utilities were down?" I said to John.

"No, just the power. Gas and water should still all be online." He picked up the radio. "Jade and I will check it out. You three watch our backs out here. NO GUNS unless absolutely necessary. We do not need to get into a firefight at night." We pulled up to the front of the building, and John and I got out. I made sure to grab my shotgun as I climbed out. As we walked towards the house, Ben and Rick got out of their humvee and got onto the two machine guns. When John and I reached the door, he turned on the tac light on his suppressed P90 submachine gun and slowly turned the doorknob. It was locked. As he knelt down to pick the lock, I turned on the tac light on my shotgun. He eased the door open, and I walked in, shotgun up. We were in the living room, where the lit fire place was burning. There were four people curled up next to it. Two women, a man, and a teenage girl.

"Jade, you check the rest of the downstairs, I'll check upstairs." John whispered from behind me. I stepped lightly past the sleepers, and moved through the rest of the house. The first room I came into was a kitchen, with a walk-in pantry in the corner. I made my way through, and stopped by the door. I pulled out one of the knives, just in case, and eased the door open. As the light from the shotgun filled the small room, I found an infected turned around in the middle of the room. I wrapped my bad arm around it's neck, and used the other to plunge the knife deep into its forehead. As it fell against me, I pulled the knife out and laid the body gently on the ground. This all took about 3 seconds.

I walked out of the kitchen and was able to get through the rest of the house without any issues. I sat down in a chair by the burning fireplace to wait for John to finish upstairs. I almost immediately started to fade off into sleepy oblivion. Just before sleep completely overtook me, a loud thud came from a room directly above me upstairs. I jumped up and quietly walked up the stairs, then turned towards the room where the sound came from. I eased the door open and found a dead infected on the floor, with a single bullet hole in it's forehead. John was standing above the infected, breathing hard.

"Damn thing came out of the closet. Scared the hell outta me." He said after a second. "Let's go wake them up." We barely made it to the stairs before a huge explosion from outside shook the whole building we were in. John and I rushed down the stairs and out the front door, as the people who were in the house yelled after us. When we got outside, I saw that somehow, one of the fuel pumps from a gas station down the street had caught fire and exploded, igniting all the fuel in the underground tanks, causing a massive explosion to rip through the ground and destroy the entire building, along with all the surrounding structures. Right now, the whole area was a massive fireball, and a mushroom cloud was slowly rising into the sky.

"Damn..." I heard a voice from behind me. I turned around and saw the guy who had been sleeping in the house standing behind me.

"Rick, what the hell happened?" John yelled from over by the humvees.

"That dude Nick saw a big group of infected over by the gas station, thought they were headed our way, and shot the pump." Rick said from behind the humvee. I walked over to them to stop the argument I could tell was coming.

"Look, it doesn't matter what happened, all that matters is that everything within ten miles heard that explosion, so we need to get the hell out of here, NOW." I said.

"What about-" Ben started to say, then froze. "Ash?" He said, his voice almost a whisper. I looked back towards the house and saw one of the women had walked out of the building and was currently standing mesmerized by the destruction down the street. Ben was jumping out of the humvee and running in seconds, and yelled.

"Ashley!" She spun around.

"Ben?" She practically jumped into his arms. They just stood there in each others arms.

"Mom?" We all turned back towards the house. The little girl was standing in the doorway. Her eyes lit up when she saw Ben. "Dad!" She ran in and joined the group. I looked at Nick, and he was embracing the other woman from the group, whom I assume was his wife.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much time for a reunion. Within a few minutes, John and Rick had everyone packing up and getting ready to leave again. John and I were in the front humvee again, followed by Ben and Nick and their families in their truck, and Rick and the other guy from their group, Jake, in the back humvee.

It was great that we had found Ben and Nick's families, but as we drove back out into the darkness, the only thing on my mind was that Tori hadn't been there with their group. And I hadn't gotten a chance to ask them where she was. So now my thoughts consisted of one thing, or rather, one person.

Tori Vega.

**A/N: Maybe leave me a review?... Please?**


	9. New Threat

**A/N: I deleted the chapter where I said I was back, and made some minor changes to previous chapters, so make sure to double check that you read the last chapter before reading this one. It'll be worth it, trust me. Anyway, here is chapter 9, New Threat.**

July 20, 2012 - 1:17 PM

I-Day +13 (Infection Day 14)

MSgt. James C. Grayson - 75th Ranger Regiment - 2 miles east of downtown L.A.

"Ramirez, right side!"

They came out of nowhere. One second we were moving quietly through the outskirts of L.A., the next infected were pouring out of every building and alleyway around us, and a few were even jumping off the roofs. They were running straight into the humvees, and the gunners couldn't get all of them. One managed to break the window on my side and reached in to grab me. I pulled my M1911 pistol out of it's holster on my hip, and put it up to it's forehead. I pulled the trigger, pushed it's arm out of the humvee, and floored the gas to try and get away from the infected. The other two vehicles followed me as I sped through the streets. I turned off the main street, and pushed the engine as hard as it would go. I turned my head to look down one of the streets as I passed it, and saw something that scared the living shit out of me. And it was about to hit us.

"Holy-"

...

I woke up slowly, dazed by the crash. My head was pounding, and my ears were ringing. I lifted my head up, and saw that I was still in the humvee, which was upside down, stuck in the side of a building. I looked out the window and saw three of the men firing their rifles at something. One dived out of the way just in time as a car slammed into the ground behind him. I tried to crawl out of the wreckage, but as soon as I tried to move, a sharp pain flew down my left arm. I groaned, and looked back at my arm. A big chunk of glass from the windshield had hit my arm, impaling it. I tried to pull it out, but I couldn't stand the pain long enough to pull it out.

I lifted it up and, careful not to hit it against anything, tried to crawl out of the humvee again. I heard the fighting outside intensify, with the Stryker's main gun joining the fray. I managed to pull myself out of the humvee and stand up. I remembered that we had a couple LAW rocket launchers with us, so I slowly stumbled towards the back of the humvee. The back door was blown off, and one of the rockets was laying on the ground. I picked it up, pulled out the back to arm the rocket, and looked back towards the massive infected that had hit us.

It was a big motherfucker, at least 10 feet tall. It's whole body was rippling with mutated muscles, and it was currently throwing cars at the other men. It's head was the only thing on it that wasn't fucking huge. I aimed right for it's chest, and fired. The rocket shot off towards the infected, exploding almost immediately against it's chest. The explosion sent a red spray of blood everywhere, coating the ground beneath it. The infected was slammed backwards against the ground, causing the ground to shake from the sheer force of the impact, almost knocking me over. The big infected didn't move again. I dropped the launcher, and fell back against the humvee as I let out a long breath.

I looked back at the glass wound in my arm, and saw blood coating my arm, and dripping off my fingertips. I tried once again to pull it out, this time succeeding.

"Regroup on me!" I called out to everyone. They slowly made their way towards me, not once taking their eyes off of the now dead big infected.

"Whoa, Sergeant, what happened to your arm?" Royen asked.

"Glass from the windshield. Somebody grab one of the medkits so I can wrap this up." After retrieving the medkit and handing it to me, PFC Johnson pointed back towards the dead infected.

"Sergeant, what the hell was that thing?" They all looked at me expectantly.

"I don't know, Private. But whatever it was, we made a helluva racket killin it, and the infected will be on our asses any minute. Give me a casualty report, then we can go." I said.

"Both the Captain and the Lieutenant are dead, they were the first to go. Then Ramirez and Hall, and the Sergeant Major. You're in charge now sir." Royen said.

"Devon's dead too. Whatever that thing was, it took out both our humvees, and almost cut our numbers in half." Specialist Green said from beside me. I could hear the screams of the infected in the distance.

"Alright, everyone, start loading supplies into the Stryker. Get the rockets and ammo out of the humvees, and grab whatever ammo and supplies you can find from our dead. I want to be oscar mike in less than 5 mikes. Go." While I finished up on my arm, the rest of the men began loading supplies into the back of the Stryker.

"Sergeant! I've got the SEAL team on the radio!" One of the Stryker operators called. "They're pinned down by the docks, and they've got another one of those big motherfuckers down there!"

"Everyone, mount up! We're headed to the docks. Get ready, we've got another bravo mike foxtrot down there." A few of the men climbed inside of the Stryker, and the rest of us climbed up on top. "Let's move out!"

"Hey Sergeant, what's a bravo mike foxtrot?" Corporal Jones called over.

"Another big motherfucker." I replied.

* * *

"3 mikes, Grayson." S1C Trent called up from the drivers seat of the Stryker.

"Royen, be ready on that LAW." I called back from the front of the Stryker.

"Ready and waiting, Sergeant." He yelled back. We were on our way to the L.A. docks. The SEAL Team we were supposed to rendevous with was pinned down by one of the big infected. We rammed through the gates onto the docks, and headed for the SEALs position. I could already hear the BMF destroying containers and knocking down cranes, and as we rounded the corner to the edge of the docks, I saw him start throwing containers at a freighter docked in the port.

"Open fire!" I called. While Royen aimed the LAW, Trent started firing at the BMF with the Stryker's main gun, and the rest of us laid down rifle fire. The BMF let out a huge roar and came running towards us. "Royen, why isn't that thing dead yet?" I looked over just in time to see him fire the rocket, and watched as it sped toward the infected. The SEAL team had already left cover and were running for the warehouses spread around the docks. What happened next scared the shit out of me.

Still running at us, the BMF swung one of its massive arms around and sent the rocket spinning off to the side, exploding harmlessly in midair. Then the infected's head disappeared. It didn't explode, or anything dramatic, it was just gone, and it's body dropped to the ground. Past the BMF, I saw a figure stand up on a crane on the other side of the docked freighter.

"Trent, let the SEAL team know that their sniper got the BMF, and we're all clear out here." I watched as the figure rappelled down off the crane and landed on the ground, then started towards us.

"Sir, the SEALs don't have a sniper in their squad. The whole team was pinned down." Trent called up from the Stryker. So who the hell is this guy? A truck came out of a building next to the crane he was on, and as it pulled up next to him, he climbed up in the bed. The truck drove up alongside us.

"I guess I should thank you for killing that thing." I said over to him. He was in fatigues, and was wielding a Barrett M-107 .50 BMG rifle.

"No problem. That's the fourth one we've come across since dropping in." He extended a hand towards me. "First Sergeant Lance Polaski." I shook his hand.

"Master Sergeant James Grayson. What unit are you with, Sergeant?"

"Hudson here," He gestured to the driver of the truck, "and I are 19th, we were dropped in with our Special Forces team about two days ago. I was our sniper, he was overwatch. We ran into a hulk the first day, and thats how the rest of the squad died. Him and I are the only ones left." The SEAL team leader walked up from the other side of the truck.

"What was your objective?" He asked.

"Start cleaning up Los Angeles, and be on the lookout for a civvie, name is Jadelyn West. But that objective is pretty much done, now that it's just the two of us. How bout you boys?"

"We're here to find Miss West, and extract her."

"Why's she so important?" Hudson asked from inside the truck.

"The boys up the chain think she's immune to the infection." I replied.

"Any idea where she is?"

"No, but I think she probably headed southeast to start working towards the border at El Paso. That's the closest the safe zone gets to us." I replied.

"Got room for two more? It's not like we have anything better to do." He asked.

"We could use all the help we can get." I replied. Then I turned to the SEAL team. "You boys start working your way down towards San Diego, then head east towards Pheonix. We'll meet you there, and if we find her, we'll extract out of Pheonix."

"Alright. See you in Pheonix, Sergeant." He said before taking his team and working back towards the city in Polaski's truck. Polaski and Hudson climbed onto the Stryker, and we made our way back towards the outskirts of the city.

"Stay on the radio, Trent. See if she's on the air somewhere." I called down. As we turned out of the city back onto one of the highways again, I noticed Jackson was deep in thought. "What's up, Jackson?"

"What if shes dead already, Sergeant? And we're just wasting our time out here getting pummeled by BMFs and getting swarmed by regular infected?" He said back.

"Every infected we kill is one less threat to the country that we have to worry about. Every dead infected is another step closer to reclaiming the country." I said back. Still, he raised a valid point. What if we are just out here for nothing? And we'd be better off staying and clearing the city than going back on this wild goose chase?

Only way to find out is to keep pushing forward. It's not like we have a choice anyway.

**A/N: Maybe a review? The button is right down there...**


	10. Supervirus

**I'm back! Sorry about the wait, last week was extremely hectic, and I wasn't able to work on the story at all. But I'm back now, and have an open week, and spring break starts friday of next week! But how can it be spring when IT'S STILL FUCKING SNOWING OUTSIDE! Seriously, it's a blizzard outside my school right now. Which is bullshit. And I have to get my wisdom teeth taken out next monday, so basically I'm gonna be hopped up on vicodyn and painkillers all of spring break. Gonna be so fucking high. **

**Now, enough of that. A lot of you have been asking if I was going to do a chapter on the beginning of the infection. Well, here it is. And a little background on the main disease. It's called the CRE infection, which means _Carbapenem Resistant Enterobacteriaceae_, which basically means its immune to all forms of antibiotics. It was first detected in North Carolina in 2001, and since then has been detected much more in 41 other states. It's feared to be the new "superbug", following other such diseases like the bubonic plague, smallpox, and HIV/AIDS. So you see why it's dangerous. Ok, this has been long enough. Go read the chapter so you can understand the story and the infection. And enjoy.**

February 12th, 2012

Medical Lab - Somewhere in Oregon

"John... we've done it." I turned away from our success to look at Alec.

"A cure... I'm almost in tears. We've just developed a cure for one of the deadliest diseases known to man." I turned back to the apex of medical science that we had created. "This will change the world, Alec. We need to be sure, and the only way to do that is through trials on patients... but I think that what we've created will save millions. It won't eliminate cancer, but hopefully it will stop it from ever killing anyone again."

"I just hope the CRE doesn't do more than it's supposed to."

* * *

March 23rd, 2012

UCSF Medical Center - San Francisco, CA

"Are we ready, Doctor?"

"Yes, John. Time to see whether you've truly discovered a cure." The doctor in charge of the surgery said. The patient the cure was being tested on first was a 47 year old man with stage 3 lung cancer. The cure was to be injected directly into the patient's lungs, which was incredibly dangerous, as it could cause a depressurization of his entire respiratory system. In layman's terms, the patient would suffocate.

The doctor slowly opened up the patients chest. He carefully snaked the syringe around the ribs, and slowly pressed it into the patients lung. He waited for a moment, listening to the patients vitals, careful not to move the needle any deeper as the patient breathed. After about ten seconds, he slowly depressed the plunger about halfway down, then slowly removed the needle. He repeated the procedure on the other side. Once the syringe was empty and away from the patient, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"Unnnnnngggggghhhhhh..." The patient suddenly moaned, and then his whole body seized up, his vitals began going crazy, and he began to have a severe spasm.

"Seizure! Hold him down!" One of the nurses yelled. The patient continued to shake for a few seconds, then calmed down. Another moment later, his vitals began to normalize again.

"What the hell was that?" The doctor looked towards John. "What exactly is the cure?"

"A mutated form of CRE, bred to infect and destroy the cancerous cells." The room went silent. Only the beeping of the heart monitor could be heard.

"Are you insane? CRE is untreatable. What if it goes further than just destroying the cancer?"

"I guess we'll find out. That's the reason we're here, is to test it. It's not supposed to go any further than that."

* * *

June 13th, 2012

UCSF Medical Center - San Francisco, CA

"I guess I was wrong, John. There are no signs of the CRE infection. The cancer was eliminated completely, and the patient is making a rapid recovery. I think you might actually have succeeded, John. You've just defeated cancer."

"We can't be 100 percent sure yet, but the trials to come are sure to be successful."

"This will change the world, John. This will save millions of lives across the globe."

* * *

July 3rd, 2012

San Francisco General Hospital & Trauma Center - San Francisco, CA

"Get him onto the bed!" One of the nurses yelled as everyone rushed into the room. The paramedics lifted the man onto the bed carefully. The nurses immediately began to run an IV, and strap an oxygen mask onto his face.

"Alright, what happened?" The doctor asked as he walked into the room.

"Landlady found him on the floor in the hallway about twenty minutes ago. He's breathing, but has been convulsing every few minutes since we got him into the ambulance." The paramedic informed him.

"Get a blood sample, and get it analyzed immediately." The doctor said. "Where's his file?"

"Right here. Richard G. Brown, age 47, blood type A positive." A nurse said from the computer in the corner.

"Anything else?"

"He had lung cancer, but..."

"What is it?"

"It says he took part in an experimental treatment to cure it." For a moment, it was silent.

"Get the doctor who was in charge here now. I want to know everything that happened during that procedure."

* * *

July 6th, 2012

Salem, OR

"Alec, you need to listen." John said as he sped through the streets of Salem towards the highway.

"John? What's wrong?"

"It's the cure. Remember that trial surgery in San Francisco?"

"Yeah, I remember. It was completely successful, I thought?"

"It wasn't. The CRE didn't eliminate the cancer. It mutated with it, creating some kind of new supervirus."

"What are you saying, John?"

"You need to leave, now. Pack up as much as you can, and go east. The virus has already spread throughout the West Coast, and is still going. It's like a zombie apocalypse here. The virus is doing something to the brain, altering it to a primal state. The military is trying to evacuate as many people as they can, and taking them east. They're setting up a border across the country from Texas to North Dakota to try and stop the spread of the virus. I'm heading there now, you need to do the same."

"Alright, John, I'll leave right now."

"Hurry, there isn't much- Oh shit!-" There was a loud crash, then the line went dead. Alec rushed to start packing up the few things in his apartment, but stopped when there was a knock at his door. Not truly realizing what was going on, he went to open it.

"Hello?" He said as he opened the door. And immediately slammed it shut again. There was a loud groaning at the door, and this time the infected behind began beating on the door even harder. Alec scrambled to pack up what little he had left, then rushed to find the 9mm pistol he had for self-defense. He found it, and after making sure it was loaded, made sure to count the rounds in the clip. 13 rounds. That's all he had.

Alec spent another minute mentally preparing himself for what was to come, then went to the door and opened it. He shot the infected in the head, then proceeded down the stairs and out of the building. Looking around, Alec realized that he had to get out now. There were fires burning, windows were broken out everywhere, there was a cacophony of screams echoing throughout the streets, and there were cars crashed and strewn everywhere. A few were burned out or flipped over. Alec rushed to his car, and after getting out his keys, managed to unlock it despite his severely shaking hands.

"Come on, come on, come on." He said as he started up the engine, then jumped as an infected dove onto the hood into the windshield. Alec shot the infected, and the body fell off as Alec drove off. He sped through the streets, dodging survivors, crashed cars, and as many infected as possible. But then his luck ran out. Directly ahead was a wrecked tractor-trailer, and it was bolocking the road. Alec slammed on his brakes, but it was too late. Alec's car slammed into the trailer at thirty miles an hour, knocking him out cold.

* * *

When Alec awoke, it was strangely quiet.

"Fuck." He said when he saw the front of his car. When he tried to open his door, he realized it was stuck against the frame. He put his feet up against it, and after a moment, it popped open. He slowly climbed out, and looked around. Everything was the same as before, except the screams that were echoing throughout the city before were now few and far between. Then and infected came around the corner of a nearby intersection, and seeing Alec, let out a roar before starting to run towards him. Alec jumped back to his car, looking for his gun. He found it jammed between the shifter and the seat. He tried to pull it out, but it wouldn't budge. He put his foot on the seat and pulled again, this time succeeding. He fell backwards onto the ground with the gun in his hand. The infected was almost on top of him when Alec shot it in the head, sending it backwards onto the ground.

Alec got back to his feet, and looked around and saw a number of infected down the street, running straight towards him. He started shooting, and managed to hit most of them. But he was down to 3 rounds left, and had nearly four times that heading towards him. Alec shot two more infected before lowering the gun.

He closed his eyes, and put the barrel of the pistol against the bottom of his jaw.

"God forgive us." And he pulled the trigger.

**So there you have it. Where the virus came from. It started out as a cure for cancer, and ended as a cataclysm for the end of humanity. Now, seriously, I want you to go look up the CRE infection. I'm serious when I say it's a real infection, and it has no cure or treatment. You get it, you have a 50% chance of surviving. End of story. Not this story though. This story is immune. So leave a review to help it feel better about being a survivor. Next chapter will hopefully be out soon. So until then, ...I've got nothin. Go enjoy yourself while I sit in a snow covered building at the end of March.**


	11. Chance

**I am truly sorry about the wait. This is my first week back from spring break, most of which I spent in a drunken stupor. Not to say it wasn't a fucking blast. But now it's back to the grind, so here's chapter 11. **

July 23rd, 2012

Infection Day 17

Outside of Phoenix, Arizona

We managed to get out of California without much trouble. And after sticking to the highway for a few hours, we were nearing the capital of Arizona, Phoenix. But it looked like Phoenix had succumbed to the infection as well. Infected were all over the streets, and I could hear more infected deeper in the city.

"No way around it, we have to go straight through the city." John said from next to me. "Go ahead and get on the gun, Jade. Don't fire unless you absolutely have to." I climbed into the back seat, and then stood up and got the gun ready. As we neared the center of the city, the number of infected rose quickly. Then a large explosion shook the ground from deeper in the city, followed by a loud roar, and then gunfire. I dropped back down into the humvee.

"The city hasn't fallen yet. There's a ton of gunfire coming from deeper in." I told John.

"Well, let's go help them out." He replied. I stood back up on the gun, and waited for the go ahead to start taking out infected with the M2. We rounded a corner, and straight down the street was the ugliest monstrosity I'd ever seen. It looked like it had taken a huge overdose of steroids, standing at least ten feet, and rippling with muscle. I immediately opened fire on it. Luckily, nothing lasts very long against an M2. After a couple dozen rounds, it let out a final roar before dropping to the ground.

As we drove past it, I saw that the .50 rounds had completely blown out its back, and it's spine was shattered too. We continued down the street, and as the infected noticed us, I took out as many as I could, and Ben took out the rest from the other humvee. The gunfire from in the city intensified, and several roars echoed through the streets. John drove us towards the gunfire, speeding through the streets. Then a group of the big infected rushed by on a street four blocks ahead. John sped straight towards them, but the a line of tracers came flying down the street from where the infected had gone, followed by a loud buzzing from a minigun. John waited for the gunner to stop shooting, then started back towards the street.

"Tanks, right behind us!" Ben yelled from the other humvee. I spun the gun around and saw four of the big infected were heading right towards us, John slowed down and let Rick get the other humvee next to us, and as soon as Ben was out of the way, I opened up on the big infected. John, slung the humvee around the corner, and I waited for the big infected to round the corner before firing again. I struggled to control the gun with its recoil, and it became easier when John stopped the humvee, but managed to kill the big infected with help from Ben. I pulled the gun back around towards the front of the humvee, and saw we were stopped beside a small building, with four guys outside of it with huge machine guns set up on sandbags. One of them climbed over the sandbags and walked towards us, with an AK in his hands.

"Are any of you infected?" He yelled as he continued towards us. I immediately thought of John.

"No." Ben yelled from the other humvee. He continued towards our humvee, and went to John's window.

"On the other side of this building is a parking garage, and on the lower floor is a tunnel. Take that tunnel until you hit the next parking garage, then go up. Our people will meet you there." He said to John. He then ran back towards the sandbags. John drove us through the alley past the building. We drove in the parking garage, and after driving around the ground floor, we found the ramp to the lower level. The tunnel was under the ramp on the other side of the floor, and as we approached it, it became very clear that it was well defended from infected. Somebody had set up a makeshift gate in front of it, on top of which were four machine guns, with what looked like a few grenade launchers. The gate opened, and as soon as we were through, it was shut again. We kept driving through, and after a few minutes of silence and darkness, we pulled out of the tunnel into another parking garage. I let go of the machine gun, and pulled myself up to where I was sitting on the edge of the hatch.

John pulled us up next to the door to the stairs up into the building. We all got out, and gathered near the door.

"Alright, the guy at the outpost outside said to go up through here, and since they had the gate set up by the tunnel, the building must be secure. So we can probably relax for right now." John led the way up the stairs, and after two flights we came to a door guarded by a survivor with a gas mask on and wielding a shotgun. He held up a hand as we approached.

"Hold up. Before you go through, listen. Everybody here has a job to do. Don't bother anybody, just go through to the elevator on the left wall and go to the 35th floor. The boss will meet you there." He said before opening the door for us. I wanted to ask what the hell he was talking about, but as the door opened, I saw what he meant. The building had been turned into a command center, and everyone was doing something. We all followed John into the elevator, and when the door was closed, elevator music started to play. I couldn't help myself, I burst out laughing.

"What the hell are you laughing about?" Rick asked.

"It's the fucking apocalypse, we're riding in an elevator carrying guns and explosives, and theres fucking elevator music playing!" I said after a few breaths. Rick smiled and shook his head, and I swear I heard John chuckle. Eventually, we stopped at the 35th floor, and there was a lot less activity here. There was one guy by a window smoking a cigarette, a couple guys sitting on a few military-style crates talking casually, also smoking, and several people sleeping against a wall.

"Over here." The guy by the window called, gesturing for us to come over. He was big, but not huge. Almost overweight, actually. He looked like he was only about 20, and was wearing an UnderArmour hat, jeans, and a tactical military vest over a black shirt. Holstered at his hip was a Glock, and slung on his back was a SCAR assault rifle. "You guys were the ones in the humvees, right?"

"Yeah, that's us." Rick answered.

"Normally I would've just sent you up for evac, but the gas mask on your friend here gave you away." He took one more drag of the cigarette before tossing it out the open window. "You're infected, aren't you?" He looked towards John. Rick and I tensed immediately. "It doesn't matter, I know you are, so don't deny it. It's alright, the door guard that let you into the building? He's infected too. The only people I've seen with gas masks on ever during this whole thing were infected, trying to hold off succumbing to it as long as possible."

"Ok, so you know I'm infected. So what?" John asked. The other guy leaned in towards John until their faces were inches away.

"Look at my eyes. What do you see?" He asked. John was silent for a moment.

"You're infected too." John said quietly, surprised.

"No. I was bitten, and I guess I am somewhat infected, but in reality I'm immune to the virus. Name's James. The group I was leading secured this tower as a holding position about two weeks ago. Since then, people have trickled in, and one of them had a long distance communications device. We've been using it to coordinate evacuations from the city since then. The army sends us evac choppers filled with equipment, and they evacuate survivors back to the safe zone. A lot of the survivors that come in choose to stay and help, and those that are infected can't be evacuated, so I've been trying to evacuate the city of survivors and clear out as much of it as we can." He walked past us to a desk with a map of the city on it. It was covered in dozens of markings.

"You're trying to clear the city?" Ben asked.

"Yeah. We planned to make the city a fortress from which the military could start to clear out the infected, and retake the infected zone. But we ran into a problem. Every time we clear a part of the city, the infected take it back within 4 hours of us leaving. No matter how many of them we kill, they keep coming back." He sat down in a chair behind the desk.

"How do they keep replenishing their numbers?" I asked.

"About a week ago, the military sent in a group of scientists to begin studying both the infected and the virus. They set up a lab on the 23rd floor. Yesterday, they found out how the infected keep their numbers up." He looked up at us. "The infected are breeding."

"How is that possible? The infected are dead!" Ben's wife exclaimed.

"No, just the human part of their brain is dead. The rest of their body is completely alive, and they have a continuous adrenaline rush, allowing them to perform feats normally rare and near impossible for uninfected. The infected are able to breed just like us, but something about the virus allows the offspring to grow at a breathtaking pace. After birth, an infected child will grow to full size in about 24 hours. We don't know how long the pregnancy lasts before birth, but it has to be less than two weeks. I didn't believe it at first either, but it's the only way that they would have been able to reinforce their numbers so quickly and efficiently." A large volume of gunfire broke out in the street below the window James had been standing at, and he walked quickly over to it and looked down. "The infected are making another push. Damn it." He turned back to us. "Alright, long story short, I can have any of you that aren't infected evacuated within the hour. You need to decide if you want to go or not." He walked back over to the desk and started talking into the radio.

"Ben, Nick, you two have been a great help, but you need to take your families and leave." John said before anyone.

"But-" Nick started.

"Nick, he's right. We need to get them out of this hell." Ben said, gesturing towards their wives. Nick started to talk, but stopped and just nodded. "Alright." Ben turned back towards James. "Where do we go?"

"38th floor. Tell them I said you were good for evac." James said before returning his attention to the map and radio. We exchanged goodbyes, and they left in the elevator. John and Rick began to debate on whether or not to stay and help, and I walked over to ask about Tori.

I walked over and studied the map while he was still on the radio. Several buildings and locations were circled in red on the map, and near the center was the tower we were in. It was in the center of a group of buildings shaded in blue. Near the edge of the map was a green circle, and a little closer to the middle was another one. There were numerous other markings throughout the map, but they were small, and a lot were crossed out.

"What do you need?" James asked suddenly. I looked up at him. He looked a lot more frustrated than he did before.

"I need to know if a Tori Vega or Andre Harris has been through here." I said. He thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers and went behind him for a file cabinet.

"Tori," he started, "Was on an evac chopper that left two hours ago. It crashed in the outskirts of the city." He pulled out a folder labeled 'Casevac #217'. "There wasn't enough room in the chopper for Andre to go with her. When I sent out a team to check for survivors, Andre insisted on being part of that team. They left about an hour ago. This," he pointed to the further green circle, "Was where the chopper crashed. Andre's team," he moved his finger to the closer green circle, "Was here when we lost comms. They didn't report any serious contact from the infected, so I was going to send another team out in about an hour to see what happened." He looked back up at me. "If you're going to go out and look for them, I'll give you supplies and some extra men with you. Save as many as you can, and I'll outfit you as best I can when you leave here."

Here we go again. Saving people I don't give a damn about just to find Tori. Something must be wrong with my head for me to be this impulsive.

I hope it's not for nothing.

**I have absolutely no idea when the next update will come, so don't get your hopes up. But you should still review. I think this chapter deserves it. But thats just me, the author, talking. Until I see you all again, I bid you farewell.**


	12. Chapter 12

I'm sorry to say I won't be able to update for awhile, my computer at home was literally destroyed by a hacker, and I can't write my stories at school because the IT department here is ass backwards. We have 13 year old computers, and they block sites like for pornography, but they actually pay attention when you visit a site like fanfiction, and they revoke your internet privileges. It's bullshit. But in good news, I've got two books that I finished recently that were fucking fantastic, "The Walking Drum" by Louis L'Amore, and "Looking for Alaska" by John Green. Seriously, go read the John Green book, it's amazing. I've also recently gotten into the TV show "Castle". Go watch it. It's on TNT every weekday starting at 4 and it runs like 5 episodes in a row. It's awesome. So, again, I'm sorry that I won't be able to update, but as soon as I get everything working right again, I'll be back to continue this story.


End file.
